Evenly Matched
by HecateA
Summary: When Moody matches her with the guy in the cardigan during an Order training exercise, Tonks isn't too worried at first. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: **Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: **The following characters belong to J.K. Rowling, and this story derives from her original works, storylines, and world. Please do not sue me, I can barely pay tuition.

**Warnings: **NA

* * *

**Stacked with: **MC4A; Shipping War; Animal Verses; Remains of War

**Individual Challenge(s): **Gryffindor MC; Hufflepuff MC; Bow Before the Blacks; Seeds; Golden Times; Old Shoes; Themes and Things A (Learning); Themes and Things B (Surprise); True Colours; Rian-Russo Inversion; Team Player; In a Flash

**Representation(s): **Remus Lupin; Order of the Phoenix

**Bonus challenge(s):** Creature Feature; Second Verse (Odd Feathers); Chorus (Middle Name)

**Tertiary bonus challenge: **NA

**Word Count:** 601

* * *

_**Shipping Wars**_

**Ship (Team): **Nymphadora Tonks/Remus Lupin (Technicolour Moon)

**List (Prompt): **Summer Medium 1 (First Fight)

* * *

**Evenly Matched **

Mad-Eye looked at her with that mixture of exasperation and thinly-veiled resentment that she was very familiar with.

"I believe that for this exercise, I asked everyone to pair up with someone they aren't familiar with," he said, eyeing her and Kingsley.

Tonks grabbed his arm. "We haven't had a shift together in three weeks. He's basically a stranger to me now."

"No," Mad-Eye said. He surveyed the crowd. "Lupin, Black—of course you'd break that rule as well, thick as thieves as you are… Nymphadora—"

"Don't call me Nymphadora."

"Be more cooperative, then. You're with Lupin now."

Tonks made eye contact with the man across the room, who was curled up in a too-big and well-worn cardigan. He smiled in her direction and she moved across the room towards him.

"You go by Tonks, right?"

"Yes," she said. "Remus?"

He nodded and held out his hand. She shook it.

Mad-Eye had made her do this exercise when she'd been new to the Auror department, so Tonks had some idea of what to anticipate when he split up partners on two sides of the large, Grimmauld Square dining room they'd emptied out. He called a pair and the goal was to get rid of your opponent as quickly as possible—if you did, you got to stay in the game and your opponent was thrown out, and you'd be matched up against someone else next round.

She and Kingsley tuned out as Mad-Eye explained both the rules and his deep, strategic, tactical reasons for bringing this to the Order as a training drill.

"This should be good," Kingsley said.

"Cocky."

Kingsley shrugged and leaned against the wall, surveying the scene.

"Right," Mad-Eye said. "Question? No, perfect. Tonks, you're up."

"Always picking on me," Tonks whispered to Kingsley before peeling herself off the wall.

"Who's your partner?"

"Cardigan," she said. "Sorry—Remus."

Remus grinned at her across the room and joined her in the center. Mad-Eye put up protection spells to keep spectators safe, and Tonks examined the wand in Remus' hand and the way he held it. She looked back at him.

"Right," Mad-Eye. "On my count. One… two… three…"

To Tonks' surprise, Remus sprung into action and cast the first spell. She had just enough reaction time to cast a spell before ducking. It nearly hit him, but he cast it aside—which kept him busy enough for her to fire another spell, which he also narrowly avoided. He cast another spell and a coil of rope shot out of his wand and wrapped itself around her legs. She collapsed to the floor in a heap but managed not to drop her wand and shot a petrification spell at him. She hit his arm, and as he struggled to break free, she cut herself free with a slashing spell. She fired again, but he broke out just in time to hit the floor. He looked up and shot another spell her way, which bought him enough time to get up.

Eventually, Dora won. She disarmed him this time, and he looked surprised for a second before throwing his hands up in surrender.

There was a round of applause around the room. Dora summoned his wand with a quick _Accio _spell and handed it back to him. She shook his hand.

"Well-played," he said.

"Thank you," she said. "You were very good. I have to admit, I wasn't expecting to be so evenly matched."

"Hmm," he smiled. "Fooled by the cardigan?"

"I suppose so," she laughed.

"Well, maybe I'll get you one day."

"Maybe," she smiled. Something told her she wouldn't mind that too much.


End file.
